Paul Dame: The truth about tax relief

The following commentary is by Paul Dame, chair of the Vermont GOP.

Democrats and their Allies took a swing at Republicans last week regarding tax relief and today we are swinging back.

During his budget address Gov. Phil Scott outlines his proposal to provide tax relief to families using a child tax credit, seniors and veterans by reducing the amount of their taxable retirement income and nurses by providing a tax credit for more training.

Paul Dame, chairman of the Vermont GOP

Democrats who were unwilling to give so much money back to Vermonters completely removed the tax relief for nurses and veterans, drastically cut the caps for relief on social security, and put everything into child tax credits in bill H.510.

When Republicans saw that Democrats had cut out so many Vermonters, and were subsidizing the childcare of families making more than 90% more than their fellow Vermonters, our Republicans fought to get the bill recommitted to provide tax relief for everyone.

Rep. Casey Toof (who is one of the very few legislators who has young children of his own) moved to send the bill back to committee to share the tax relief. When that didn’t work, Republicans tried to cut the tax relief given to families that make over six figures and instead redirect that money by providing tax incentives that might draw more nurses to Vermont to help address our severely understaffed hospitals.

While Republicans have always supported child tax credits (which were an important part of the Trump Tax Cuts in 2017) the Vermont economy has some critical needs that are even more urgent given the strain COVID and foolish COIVD-related policies have put on our health care workforce.

In addition to that, many seniors are getting squeezed terribly due to Biden’s rampant inflation, and those who rely on social security need the kind of breathing room that would have been provided by Gov. Scott and the Republicans.

The reality is that Democrats are doing this because they know they have awakened a sleeping giant with their overreach into our education system. Parents are fuming about nonsensical COVID policies, objectionable content in the classroom and the intensifying politicization of our schools. Democrats may be trying to buy some appeasement from the suburban moms who voted against Trump in 2020, but are now turning against Democrats in 2022.

Republicans will be here fighting to give back to Vermonters what is theirs. To the parents of school children, we support your right to reclaim your role in your child’s education. To the senior citizens and veterans who were taxes for years to earn a benefit, Republicans support your right to reclaim your purchasing power being eroded by the Federal government. To the nurses who worked on the front lines in the most dangerous situations when any kind of protection was limited, we support your right to claim the reward due to you as our most essential workers and reclaim the safer, better staffed working environment that has shrunk if not disappeared over the past 2 years.

Republicans in the House are committed to working for all Vermonters where we can, and not showing favoritism to one particular group and a token gesture to another.

So to combat the misinformation that Democrats and their Allies are trying to spread, make sure to check out our facebook ads on this, and please show your support to your local Republican Rep by sharing these images all over social media. Democrats are misleading voters, and Republicans are responding with the truth.

Image courtesy of Public domain

8 thoughts on “Paul Dame: The truth about tax relief

  1. A lot of “giving so much money back to Vermonters” is already in place; unfortunately, a look at the data from 2018 shows no change from the historical pattern of giving it to the people who don’t need it. The average Vermont adjustment for households making over $1 million (average, $3 million) was $388,000 (12.8%) and for households making the Vermont median (about $40,000, or one-sixtieth of the top earners’ income), $561—or 0.144% (yes, one-seventh of a percent), which is about 1/89th of the top earner’s rate. Hardly fair, to look at it.

    As a household with 2 working parents and 2 children needs to be making $88,000 a year in order to be self-sufficient (https://livingwage.mit.edu/states/50) and the average salary in Vermont is around $66,000 (https://www.ziprecruiter.com/Salaries/Average-Salary–in-Vermont), it’s clear that child care is needed for the people who run the cash registers, sell us the groceries, mop the hospital floors, handle the bookkeeping, patch the potholes and in so many other ways make our lives smoother.

    Adjusting the top tax credit rate downward to make all Vermonters’ tax loads equal would make an additional $230.2 million available for child care payments to the workers who need to make $33 an hour to be financially self-sufficient if they are raising two children.

    it would result in an average state tax increase for the top earners of around $15,000. While this tax increase would be the equivalent of al $1,900 increase for a household making the average wage, it would leave the top earners with an average after-tax income of $2.7million, probably enough to get by on.

    • Soo…if those who you do not think are taxed enough pay more…would finance Democrat wet dream of financing VTs cumbersome and prohibitively expensive child care aka early indoctrination system which greatly harmed the livlihood of our child care community and *their* jobs.

      Oh I see, if Democrat Party steal from the rest of us only then can objectives be realized. Typical class warfare of the Communists.

      Apparently don’t think we look at your links…which in this case prove your numbers as ever-more slippery Democrat disinformation. VT workers make average of over $61,000 yearly – a mere $5000 less than national average, and approx $30 hourly…vast majority make $73,000 yearly and $35 hourly according to current 2022 numbers Zip Recruiter link, so pls explain your $44/hourly to make living wage. As to the rest of your numbers – if these are false so are the rest.

      So the largest employer in the state VT State Employees plus local and federal means most workers unionized federal, state or municipal employees not the “floormoppers” and other grunt workers who by the stats also make a living wage.

      2 parents w/2 children need living wage of $22/hr each if Im reading stats correctly which is more than what the lowest percentile workers average. So looks like there is no problem which would require the drastic measures and confiscatory taxes you think we in the same or lower class all should pay to make lives easier for others which we simply cannot afford. Wealthier VTers will simply move across the river and already are.

  2. Republicans should support policies that encourage big families. The Democrats proposed one good bill this year, and this was it. It is a mistake for Republicans to blow it up because supposedly “middle to upper middle class people shouldn’t get a child tax credit” and “other people should get tax credits too.”

    • So sorry there’s no comment sections in leftwing lalaland for Dems such as yourself venting angst against Republican and conservative positions – everything your fellow Marxists under the Golden Doom concoct should be blown up lol.

      If economic tax refunds are handed out – everyone but the higher incomes should be eligible – we’re all hurting not just fams w/kids and there’s no way to know if monies are spent specific to the kiddos.

      VTgraveDigger, Sevendaysvt, VPR all have comment sections on FakeBook accounts btw.

      • I’m no Dem. I’m a conservative. And, stardust, you’re clearly a run-of-the-mill Vermont Republican, or at least you sound like one here.

        • Eyeopener: Didn’t say “families” but “large families” translation: high wage earners with enough kiddos to qualify but more than gappy to exclude everyone else.

          Quack like a duck much…idc what you or your fellow Democrat Communists think of me…from above story it is the Democrat Party attacking our party – your talking points illustrate this and lockstep stances prove…TNR is not a good place to hone bs-artist skills but by all means keep trying 😉

  3. Not everyone reads all these bills or follows everything done in Mount stupid, or can. This article would be more helpful, if we understood what the liberal commies took out. In other words, what did they take away from the other Vermonters?

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